More Mobile Titles in Development at Blizzard Entertainment

Despite the harsh negative reaction to BlizzCon 2018's Diablo: Immortal reveal, it appears that Blizzard has plans for a number of additional mobile games. Allen Adham, Executive Producer and one of the original founders of Blizzard Entertainment, and Wyatt Cheng, Principal Designer of Diablo: Immortal, held a press conference at BlizzCon during which they shed some light on future development.\r\r"In terms of Blizzard's approach to mobile gaming, many of us over the last few years have shifted from playing primarily desktop to playing many hours on mobile, and we have many of our best developers now working on new mobile titles across all of our IPs. Some of them are with external partners, like Diablo: Immortal; many of them are being developed internally only, and we'll have information to share on those in the future. I will say also that we have more new products in development today at Blizzard than we've ever had in our history and our future is very bright."\r\rThey went on to speak on the convergence of mobile, PC, and console gaming (as we've seen with games like Hearthstone), and how the level of fidelity in mobile devices has improved to the point where the quality can be similar to that of PC and console. The press conference closed be stating that the main reason for developing Diablo: Immortal to mobile was to introduce the game to a much broader audience, and that there were still teams working on multiple Diablo projects for the diehard PC fans, so it can be assumed that any future mobile development would have similar goals - not that those projects should replace the current game series or discontinue support on current platforms, but to enhance their reach around the world.\r\rWhile Diablo: Immortal had a harsh reception at BlizzCon, the criticism has so far largely revolved around the reveal itself, and the lack of accompanying Diablo 4 news or content updates for Diablo 3 (although there was later controversy over whether a Diablo 4 announcement had in fact been planned). Critiques of the mobile game itself have been mixed, but much less severe, though it's been made clear that Immortal simply wasn't what fans were hoping for. That said, the mobile gaming market has grown into a massive industry, with the gaming market intelligence website Newzoo reporting revenue from mobile titles accounting for $63.2 billion, or 47% of all gaming in 2018, and further projects it to grow to over $100 billion by 2021.\r\r\r\rWhile many longtime fans might prefer Blizzard stick to their PC roots, it should hardly be a surprise that they want to push further into the mobile market, especially given the success of Hearthstone. It should also be remembered that Blizzard has a history of prominent developers moving between different projects, rather than solely focusing on one game, and despite Allen Adham stating many of their "best developers" were now working on mobile titles, there hasn't been any indication of other teams being downsized or development slowing down as a result.

Комментарий от Weper

Комментарий от Brissingar

Комментарий от pokcmvmxckm

Warcraft 4 for Mobile! #Kappa\r\rDon't even joke about that, we may end up with a Command and Conquer situation.

Комментарий от m2geek

on 2018-11-07T19:48:39-06:00

*BOOOOOOOOO*

Комментарий от FaragiA

on 2018-11-07T19:48:45-06:00

Is this some kind of out of season April fool's joke?\r\r\r\rsorry, had to do it

Комментарий от cgallivant

on 2018-11-07T19:48:50-06:00

Ok but mobile games should never be the main announcement for a franchise. \r\rHonestly wouldn't mind a Pet Battle app, but don't treat it like the kind of content worth spending hundreds of dollars on a ticket to see the opening for a tapping game.

Комментарий от SlyPenguin0

on 2018-11-07T19:49:21-06:00

Ok but mobile games should never be the main announcement for a franchise.

Honestly wouldn't mind a Pet Battle app, but don't treat it like the kind of content worth spending hundreds of dollars on a ticket to see the opening for a tapping game.I agree that the announcement was poorly planned. For the rest of people screaming "we play on PC!" this product isn't for you and that's ok. It's not bad for Blizz to gain more\/new customers.

Mobile is a smart move for any company. You don't have to play those games, but the new customers that Blizz brings in will supply even more money to the company as a whole. That money will get put into the games you love. Their team hasn't stayed the same, with people moving to mobile projects and leaving PC titles in the dust. They are actively hiring other teams for mobile projects. Chill out.

Комментарий от NealBloome

on 2018-11-07T19:49:44-06:00

So basically Blizzard is going mobile and in 10 years our beloved PC games will no longer be supported. GREAT! (Yes I was being overly melo-dramatic but still **BAD WORD HERE** mobile)

People need to chill out. Mobile is a smart move for any company. You don't have to play those games, but the new customers that Blizz brings in will supply even more money to the company as a whole. That money will get put into the games you love. Their team hasn't stayed the same, with people moving to mobile projects and leaving PC titles in the dust. They are actively hiring other teams for mobile projects. Chill out.

I wish the rest of us had a fraction of your optimism for the future.

Комментарий от saphiredragon89

on 2018-11-07T19:49:52-06:00

The problem with mobile isn't that games on them can't be fun the problem with mobile is the aggressive micro-transactions that have negative effects on gameplay are the rule rather then the exception which is why mobile is considered a 'dirty word' to gamers. Which isn't the fault of gamers but the fault of the hundreds of companies throwing thousands upon thousands of such games into the market that it's a chore to find the gems among all the junk.

Комментарий от Arventuus

on 2018-11-07T19:49:53-06:00

blizz my phone can barely run a map app, how does that equate pc\/console quality? It don't. Phone games are janky as hell.

Комментарий от RoguePostDoc

on 2018-11-07T19:50:54-06:00

If a mini game for WoW is on mobile, I'll be fine.\r\rIf they were to put out a (spiritual) sequel to WoW or ANY Blizz franchise, I'm done with Blizz.\r\rOh right ... they are no longer Blizz, "Activision"-Blizzard. Fak.............

Комментарий от Telos954

on 2018-11-07T19:52:03-06:00

Being developed, or being reskinned?

Комментарий от Peredhil

on 2018-11-07T19:52:05-06:00

People need to chill out. Mobile is a smart move for any company. You don't have to play those games, but the new customers that Blizz brings in will supply even more money to the company as a whole. That money will get put into the games you love. Their team hasn't stayed the same, with people moving to mobile projects and leaving PC titles in the dust. They are actively hiring other teams for mobile projects. Chill out.\r\r\rThe day WoW story branch into mobile is the day a lot of PC gamers will uninstall the whole Bnet from PC...

Комментарий от jaq1010

on 2018-11-07T19:52:35-06:00

I hate to break it to you kids, but look at those numbers.\r\rAnyone in gaming not developing mobile titles in addition to PC and console is gonna be leaving a lot of money on the table.\r\rAnd yeah, I know you guys seem to rediscover this on a daily basis, but everyone in this industry wants to make money. \r\rNow, the slippery slope starts when people think developing mobile games will end all other development at gaming companies, but, let's face it, it never takes people on the internet much to grease up the slippery slope.\r\rGet used to it: in five years every company that publishes video games will be hip deep in mobile development.

Комментарий от kalmtraveler

on 2018-11-07T19:53:37-06:00

So they use the Diablo @#$%storm to fly this kinda stuff under the radar and after everyone has calmed down they don't have to deal with ^&*!storms for a while. Clever Move.

Комментарий от Arraya

on 2018-11-07T19:55:44-06:00

They just want in on the rising Mobile Gaming. Its all about the money.